Southern Cross to Close after Landlords Abandon the Group

Friday, 29th July 2011

It was announced earlier this month that the care group Southern Cross is finally going to close its doors after the landlords of the properties abandoned the group.

Southern Cross, which was by far the largest care home group in the country, had 752 care homes across the UK with 31,000 residents. It has been suffering a significant decline in local authority fees and a ballooning £250million annual rental bill for some time.The Chief Executive Mr Jamie Buchan said in a statement ‘My objective, and that of my team, is to continue to provide excellent care to every resident and to manage the programme of transition professionally’.

The group had been locked into negotiations with its landlords to restructure its property and rental arrangements since March, these negotiations failed and so the group is now hoping for an ‘orderly closure.’ Christopher Fisher Chairman of Southern Cross has reassured residents’ they will continue to receive care and went on to defend the business model that many business leaders argue has pushed the company towards collapse.

Around 250 out of the 752 care homes have either found new operators or will be taken over by existing landlords. The remaining 502 landlords are said to be finalising their plans.

This restructuring period should begin very soon, once this is over Southern Cross will cease to be an operator of care homes in the UK.